Laser synthetic aperture sonar for buried object detection

ABSTRACT

A system and method to detect an object buried beneath the seabed are described. The system includes a moving platform, a low frequency signal source coupled to the platform to transmit a low frequency signal to an area of the seabed, and a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) coupled to the platform to transmit a plurality of transmission beams to the area of the seabed at a respective plurality of angles at each position of a plurality of positions of the platform over the area. The LDV includes a plurality of receivers that receive a respective plurality of reflection beams resulting from the plurality of transmission beams. A processor develops a three-dimensional image that indicates the object, the processor determining a reflection value at each point of the three-dimensional image as a coherent combination of reflection from the point contributing to each of the plurality of reflection beams.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to buried object detection.

Detection of buried objects refers to detection of objects such as, forexample, landmines or other items that are obscured from visualdetection. One prior approach to landmine detection has involved theintroduction of low frequency signals into the ground to causevibrations. The low frequency signals produce different surfacevibrations in areas where there are sub-surface objects (e.g.,landmines) present. Thus, this difference in the surface vibration isused to detect landmines. This surface vibration is detected using alaser vibrometer (also referred to as a laser Doppler vibrometer or LDV)that transmits a laser beam and determines vibration based on a Dopplershift in the reflected laser beam.

SUMMARY

According to an embodiment, a buried object detection system configuredto detect an object buried beneath a seabed includes a moving platform;a low frequency signal source coupled to the platform and configured totransmit a low frequency signal to an area of the seabed at eachposition of a plurality of positions of the platform; a multi-beam laserDoppler vibrometer (LDV) coupled to the platform and configured totransmit a plurality of transmission beams to the area of the seabed ata respective plurality of angles at each position of the plurality ofpositions of the platform over the area, the LDV comprising a pluralityof receivers that receive a respective plurality of reflection beamsresulting from the plurality of transmission beams; and a processorconfigured to process the plurality of reflection beams to develop athree-dimensional image that indicates the object, the processordetermining a reflection value at each point of the three-dimensionalimage as a coherent combination of reflections from the pointcontributing to each of the plurality of reflection beams.

According to another embodiment, a method of detecting an object buriedbeneath a seabed includes arranging a system to move above an area ofthe seabed, the system comprising a platform coupled to a low frequencysignal source transmitting a low frequency signal to the area of theseabed at each position of a plurality of positions of the platform anda laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV); transmitting, using the LDV, aplurality of transmission beams to the area of the seabed at arespective plurality of angles at each position of the plurality ofpositions of the platform over the area; collecting a respectiveplurality of reflection beams resulting from the plurality oftransmission beams; processing the plurality of reflection beams anddeveloping a three-dimensional image of the area based on determining areflection value at each point of the three-dimensional image as acoherent combination of reflections from the point contributing to eachof the plurality of reflection beams; and identifying the object basedon the three-dimensional image.

Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniquesof the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the inventionare described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimedinvention. For a better understanding of the invention with theadvantages and the features, refer to the description and to thedrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of this disclosure, reference is nowmade to the following brief description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings and detailed description, wherein like referencenumerals represent like parts:

FIG. 1 depicts a buried object detection system according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary vibrometer used in the systemaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates exemplary phase centers of vibrometer reflectionsources associated with one output of the low frequency signal sourceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 4 illustrates the coverage area resulting from each vibrometer foreach ping by the low frequency signal source according to an exemplaryembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a contour plot of the resultant image resolutionobtained from a system according to embodiments described herein; and

FIG. 6 is a process flow of a method of detecting a sub-seabed objectaccording to embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As noted above, detection of sub-surface objects has employed a lowfrequency source and a vibrometer that facilitates determining whichareas of the surface experience different vibrations based on the lowfrequency source because of a buried object. This approach can beeffective in the detection of objects that are buried just below thesurface (on the order of centimeters below the surface) of the earth.However, detection by this method or other conventional landminedetection methods becomes ineffective when the object is buried belowthe seabed. In the underwater environment, soft sediment may causeself-burial or movement of a buried object to a greater depth. Thus, anunderwater mine may be buried several meters below the seabed, forexample, or a sunken black box from a plane crash may becomeincreasingly embedded over time. Embodiments of the systems and methodsdetailed herein relate to buried object detection in the subseaenvironment. The embodiments described herein relate to obtaining a highresolution three-dimensional image of the sub-seabed.

FIG. 1 depicts a buried object detection system 100 according to anembodiment of the invention. The system 100 includes a low frequencysignal source 110, one or more vibrometers 120, and a processing system130 supported by a movable platform 140. The processing system 130includes one or more memory devices 133 to store information andinstructions and one or more processors 135 to implement theinstructions. The processing system 130 may include other knowncomponents such as input and output interfaces and other communicationcomponents. According to one embodiment, the processing system 130 mayperform the processing of beams received by the vibrometer 120. Inalternate embodiments, the processing system 130 may transmit thereceived beams or related information for processing at the surface orelsewhere. While one platform 140 is shown in FIG. 1, alternateembodiments of the buried object detection system 100 may includemultiple such platforms 140.

Based on movement of the one or more platforms 140 through the water viaany known mechanisms, the system 100 detects sub-seabed objects 150. Theplatform 140 may move at a controllable speed that is, for example, 4knots. The low frequency signal source 110 may be a transducer thattransmits a signal with a frequency between 1 and 10 kilohertz (kHz),for example, to generate vibrations at the seabed surface from below theseabed. As shown in FIG. 1, for example, the low frequency signal source110 transmits an acoustic signal that causes acoustic reflections toscatter in all directions. Some of these acoustic reflections manifestas vibrations in the seabed. These vibrations are measured based on thelaser beams transmitted by the vibrometer 120. The low frequency signalor acoustic signal transmitted by the low frequency signal source is ata higher frequency than the low frequency signal (on the order of Hz)that is typically used for landmine detection. The basic operation ofthe vibrometer 120 is known, and an overview is provided below withreference to FIG. 2. Modifications of this basic use are then discussedfurther below. The vibrometer 120 may include a helium-neon laser, laserdiode, fiber laser or neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet(Nd:Y₃Al₅O₁₂) laser, for example.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary vibrometer 120 used in thesystem 100 according to an embodiment. One transmitted beam is discussedwith regard to the exemplary vibrometer 120 shown in FIG. 2. Thevibrometer 120 includes a laser 210 that generates a beam at frequencyf0. The beam at frequency f0 is split by a beam splitter 220 anddirected to a mirror 230 and a Bragg cell 240 that adds a frequencyshift to the beam from the beam splitter 220 to output a shifted beam ata frequency of f0+fb. The frequency shift may instead be produced by anacousto-optic modulator, for example. This shifted beam at frequencyf0+fb is directed to the surface or sea surface. Because of thevibration of the surface or sea surface due to the low frequency signalsource 110, a Doppler shift is added to the shifted beam. Some of thelight energy scattered by the surface or sea surface is captured by thevibrometer 120, and this light has a frequency of f0+fb+fd. The capturedlight is directed by a beam splitter 220 to a photodetector 250 where itis combined with the reference beam at frequency f0. The photodetectoroutputs a frequency modulated signal with the shift frequency fb as thecarrier frequency and the Doppler shift as the modulation frequency(fd). Demodulation of this photodetector signal by a processor 260provides a signal indicating velocity over time of the vibrating surfaceor sea surface. From this velocity versus time signal, the amplitude andfrequency of vibration of the surface or sea surface may be determinedand used to detect the object 150. While a single beam (at frequency f0)is discussed as being transmitted by the exemplary vibrometer 120 withreference to FIG. 2 for explanatory purposes, FIG. 1 clarifies thatmultiple beams are transmitted at multiple angles. This is detailed withreference to FIG. 3, below, which indicates multiple transmitters 122 inthe vibrometer 120. Further, as detailed with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4below, the transmitted beams may be swept within a single scan based onthe movement of a mirror that changes the angle of the incident laserbeam. The vibrometer 120 according to embodiments detailed belowfacilitates beamforming into the seabed to detect a shape of a buriedobject and, thereby, differentiate man-made objects from naturalformations, for example.

FIG. 3 illustrates exemplary phase centers 310 of vibrometer 120reflection sources associated with one output of the low frequencysignal source 110 according to an embodiment. The reflection sourcesrefer to points on the seabed from which reflections are received as aresult of the incident beams transmitted by the vibrometer 120. As notedabove, these reflection beams received at the vibrometer 120 provide anindication of the vibration caused by the low frequency signal source100. While FIG. 2 indicates the basic theory of operation of asingle-beam vibrometer 120, FIG. 3 illustrates the basic coverage of onemulti-beam laser Doppler vibrometer 120. As noted above and shown inFIG. 1, multiple beams (n beams, according to the example shown in FIG.3) are transmitted by the vibrometer 120 at different angles. Thistransmission is done by (n) multiple transmitters 122 of the vibrometer120, and the reflected signals are received by multiple receivers 124 ofthe vibrometer 120. Each transmitted beam has a different phase center310 associated with it, as indicated in FIG. 3. In the example shown inFIG. 3, the vibrometer 120 may measure 16 points (n=16) on the seabedsimultaneously, to provide an excess of 20 kilo Hertz (kHz) ofbandwidth. As shown in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 3, the n beamsare transmitted at angles that are perpendicular to the direction ofmovement indicated for the platform 140. Each of the n beams transmittedby the n transmitters 122 of the vibrometer 120 are “spread” to mdifferent locations on the seabed based on changing the angle of amirror that focuses the incident beam output by each transmitter 122.Thus, for one ping or transmission by the low frequency signal source110, a set of n-by-m phase centers 310 is generated by one multi-beamvibrometer 120. As explained with reference to FIG. 4 below, multiplevibrometers 120 may be used to generate multiple sets of n-by-m phasecenters 310 (reflection sources) to increase the area of the seabedinvestigated with each ping or transmission of the low frequency signalsource 110. As shown in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 3, the m beamsassociated with each of the n beams are generated in a direction that isparallel with the direction of movement indicated for the platform 140.

FIG. 4 illustrates the coverage area 410 resulting from each vibrometer120 for each ping by the low frequency signal source 110 according to anexemplary embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 provides a top-down viewfrom the surface to the seabed. As shown in FIG. 3, for eachtransmission by the low frequency signal source 110, each vibrometer 120transmits (n) multiple beams that are moved to (m) multiple locations,resulting in the n-by-m phase centers 310 or reflection points. Thesen-by-m phase centers 310 are illustrated as a parallelogram indicatingthe coverage area 410 of one multi-beam vibrometer 120 for a giventransmission of the low frequency signal source 110. The exemplaryembodiment shown in FIG. 4 involves multiple (four) vibrometers 120 onthe platform 140 that each generate a coverage area 410 for eachtransmission by the low frequency signal source 110. For example, at thefirst position or location of the platform 140, the low frequency signalsource 110 transmits an acoustic signal into the seabed, and each of thefour exemplary vibrometers 120 transmit n beams that are moved to mpositions, thereby generating reflections from coverage areas 410 A-1,A-2, A-3, A-4. At the fourth (last shown) position of the platform 140,the low frequency signal source 110 transmits another (the fourth)signal and the four vibrometers 120 transmit beams to generatereflections from coverage areas 410 D-1, D-2, D-3, D-4. Because theparallelograms illustrating coverage areas 410 at adjacent locations ofthe platform 140 overlap (e.g., coverage area A-4 overlaps partiallywith coverage area B-4), determination of the direction of travel of theplatform 140 is aided. That is, if the system 100 produced discretecoverage areas at each position of the platform 140 (as in FIG. 3),determining the location of one coverage area 410 relative to theprevious (non-overlapping) coverage area 410 would require some way totrack the movement of the platform 140. Based on the beamformingtechnique at each location of the platform 140 according to embodimentsof the invention (and the resulting overlapping coverage areas 410), thelocation of one coverage area 410 relative to the previous coverage area410 is resolved by identifying peaks in the cross correlation of datafrom successive transmissions to establish the exact forward motion ofthe platform 140. Accurate determination of the movement and,accordingly, the location of reflections received by the vibrometers 120coupled to the platform 140 facilitates accurate location of any buriedobjects 150 identified by the system 100. As FIG. 4 illustrates, themovement of the platform 140 facilitates each vibrometer 120 receivingreflections equivalent to a long array of vibrometers 120 (e.g., onevibrometer 120 obtains reflections from coverage areas 410 A-1 throughD-1). The coverage areas 410 shown in FIG. 4 on either side of theplatform 140 (e.g., A-3 and A-4) may cover 25 meters, for example, suchthat in a single pass (at a single position of the platform 140 with asingle transmission by the low frequency signal source 110), a 50 meterspan may be covered by the four vibrometers 120 considered in theexemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4.

As noted above, at each position of the platform 140 where the lowfrequency signal source 110 transmits an acoustic signal, (n) multiplebeams are transmitted by each vibrometer 120, coupled with the movementof each beam to m locations to result in an n-by-m coverage area 410 ofreflection points (reflecting the incident beams by each vibrometer120). As discussed below, the resulting reflections measured by each ofthe vibrometers 120 are processed by the processing system 130 oranother processor to provide a three-dimensional image that facilitatesidentification of a buried object 150. Each (laser) beam that istransmitted at the seabed by the vibrometer 120 causes a reflection(laser) beam to be received by the vibrometer 120. Each reflected(laser) beam indicates vibrational energy at a given point (associatedphase center) on the seabed surface but that vibrational energy can havecontributions from a number of acoustic reflections below the seabed.The ultimate image obtained with the vibrometers 120 is improved if asmuch of the acoustic reflection as possible from each point at or belowthe seabed is captured as explained below. Based on the fact that theacoustic reflections travel at the speed of sound, the time delay of theacoustic reflection indicates the depth of the reflection source. Asdiscussed below, the time delay information and coherent combinations ofdifferent reflected laser beams using phase rotations facilitates thegeneration of a high resolution three-dimensional image at and below theseabed surface.

The reflections associated with the same point at or below the seabed,but received at different receivers 124 within the vibrometer 120, arecoherently summed. That is, a receiver 124 associated with a transmitter122 that transmits a beam to a given point on the seabed receives areflected (laser) beam. Based on the time delay (relative to thetransmission of the low frequency signal by the low frequency signalsource 110), this reflected (laser) beam indicates that the acousticreflection originates from some depth below the seabed. In addition, byperforming a corresponding phase rotation on reflected (laser) beamsreceived by other receivers 124, the contribution of acousticreflections or scatter from that same depth to reflected (laser) beamsreceived by those other receivers 124 can be coherently combined. Forexample, with reference to the coverage areas 410 shown in FIG. 4, thesystem 100 would generate a three-dimensional image based on the areacovered by all of the individual coverage areas 410 and thatthree-dimensional image would benefit from coherent combinationsassociated with each of the phase centers 310 of all the coverage areas410. This coherent combination of the (laser) reflections associatedwith energy generated by acoustic reflections at every given point at orbelow the seabed (i.e., associated with each n-by-m coverage area 410)and received based on the multiple beams and the multiple locations ofthe vibrometer 120 provides a three-dimensional image with an enhancedresolution that facilitates detection of an object 150 that is below theseabed by a distance on the order of meters. The resolution obtained bythe coherent combination may be on the order of 10 centimeters, forexample.

FIG. 5 illustrates a contour plot 500 of the resultant image resolutionobtained from a system 100 according to embodiments described herein.The plot 500 is a slice through the seabed (a two-dimensionalcross-section of the three-dimensional image obtained by the system100). Specifically, for a given position of the platform 140, the 3decibel (dB) contour lines of energy focus within the seabed are shownfor different positions perpendicular to the direction of travel of theplatform 140 (as shown in FIG. 4, for example). The plot 500 illustratesthe ability of the system 100 to focus a two dimensional array of phasecenter returns to a specific point within the seabed and demonstratesthe ability to provide resolution in all three axes. Considering thecoverage areas 410 shown in FIG. 4, for example, if the direction of themultiple beams (i.e., direction of coverages areas A-1 through A-4,which is perpendicular to the direction of travel shown for the platform140) were considered as being along the x axis, the direction of themultiple platform positions (i.e., direction of coverages areas A-1through D-1) were considered as being along the y-axis, and thedirection from the seabed into the sub-seabed surface were considered asbeing along the z-axis, then the plot 500 shows a two-dimensional sliceat a given value of y along the x and z axes. The three-dimensionalimage resulting from the coherently combined (laser) reflections is ofhigher resolution than without the combination, because the resultingimage benefits from a larger (synthetic) aperture than the actualaperture of a given vibrometer 120. The three-dimensional image may thenbe used to detect the presence of a buried object 150. In the exemplaryplot 500 shown in FIG. 5, the contours indicate that an objectapproximating the outline of a rectangular shape is 3 meters below thesediment (along the z axis) at a position just below the vibrometer 120array of the platform 140 (on the x axis) at whatever position of theplatform (along the y axis) the slice is taken. The width of the contouroutline indicates a 10 cm resolution.

FIG. 6 is a process flow of a method of detecting a sub-seabed object150 according to embodiments of the invention. At block 610, arrangingthe system 100 includes arranging one or more moving platforms 140 thatinclude the low frequency signal source 110 and one or more vibrometers120. Collecting reflected beams, at block 620, includes receiving (witheach of the receivers 124 of each vibrometer 120) an indication ofscattered acoustic energy based on the transmitted (laser) beams(transmitted by the transmitter 122 of each vibrometer 120). Processingthe collected (laser) reflections at block 630 includes coherentlycombining the reflected beam recorded by each receiver 124 of eachvibrometer 120 for each given point (phase center 310) (resulting fromeach of the acoustic transmissions as the platform 140 moves along adefined track). At block 640, developing the three-dimensional imagerefers to the results of the coherent combinations which provides anenhanced indication of reflected acoustic energy from points on andbelow the seabed. Identifying the object 150, at block 650, refers tousing the three-dimensional image to identify areas where thereflections are different than at other areas. The general shape (e.g.,rectangular, spherical) would help to discern a man-made object 150(e.g., landmine, artifact, black box from an aircraft) from a naturalsub-seabed formation. The three-dimensional image resulting from thevibrometer 120 measurements may be presented to an operator in any knownformat. That is, the three-dimensional image may be rotated, viewedtop-down, front-to-back, and in selected slices, for example. Thethree-dimensional data may additionally be used by any known targetdetection or image processing technique to automatically identify anobject 150. For example, all areas with reflection values within definedthresholds may be identified.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present invention has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

While the preferred embodiments to the invention have been described, itwill be understood that those skilled in the art, both now and in thefuture, may make various improvements and enhancements which fall withinthe scope of the claims which follow. These claims should be construedto maintain the proper protection for the invention first described.

What is claimed is:
 1. A buried object detection system configured todetect an object buried beneath a seabed, the system comprising: amoving platform; a low frequency signal source coupled to the platformand configured to transmit a low frequency signal to an area of theseabed at each position of a plurality of positions of the platform; amulti-beam laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) coupled to the platform andconfigured to transmit a plurality of transmission beams to the area ofthe seabed at a respective plurality of angles at each position of theplurality of positions of the platform over the area, the LDV comprisinga plurality of receivers that receive a respective plurality ofreflection beams resulting from the plurality of transmission beams; anda processor configured to process the plurality of reflection beams todevelop a three-dimensional image that indicates the object, theprocessor determining a reflection value at each point of thethree-dimensional image as a coherent combination of reflections fromthe point contributing to each of the plurality of reflection beams. 2.The system according to claim 1, wherein the low frequency signal sourceis a transducer that transmits the low frequency signal to be between 1and 10 kilohertz.
 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein theplurality of transmission beams at the respective plurality of angles ateach position of the plurality of positions of the platform areperpendicular to a direction of travel of the platform.
 4. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the LDV includes a plurality of mirrorsconfigured to move the plurality of transmission beams to a respectiveplurality of beam positions for each position of the plurality ofpositions of the platform, the processor obtaining the coherentcombination of reflections based additionally on reflections from theplurality of beam positions.
 5. The system according to claim 4, whereinthe plurality of beam positions associated with a given one of theplurality of transmission beams is parallel to a direction of travel ofthe platform.
 6. The system according to claim 4, wherein the pluralityof transmission beams at the plurality of beam positions defines, forthe LDV, a coverage area within the area associated with the lowfrequency signal at a given position of the plurality of positions ofthe platform.
 7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the LDVgenerates reflections from the coverage area associated with eachpositon of the plurality of positions of the platform.
 8. The systemaccording to claim 7, wherein the coverage area associated with a firstpositon of the plurality of positions of the platform overlaps with thecoverage area associated with a second positon of the plurality ofpositions of the platform.
 9. The system according to claim 8, whereinthe processor determines a relative position of each point of thethree-dimensional image based on the overlap.
 10. The system accordingto claim 1, wherein, based on the coherent combination, a resolution ofeach point of the three-dimensional image is 10 centimeters or less. 11.The system according to claim 1, further comprising another of the LDVcoupled to the platform, wherein the processor determines the coherentcombination based on the respective plurality of reflection beamsreceived by both of the LDVs.
 12. The system according to claim 1,wherein the processor is coupled to the platform.
 13. A method ofdetecting an object buried beneath a seabed, the method comprising:arranging a system to move above an area of the seabed, the systemcomprising a platform coupled to a low frequency signal sourcetransmitting a low frequency signal to the area of the seabed at eachposition of a plurality of positions of the platform and a laser Dopplervibrometer (LDV); transmitting, using the LDV, a plurality oftransmission beams to the area of the seabed at a respective pluralityof angles at each position of the plurality of positions of the platformover the area; collecting a respective plurality of reflection beamsresulting from the plurality of transmission beams; processing theplurality of reflection beams and developing a three-dimensional imageof the area based on determining a reflection value at each point of thethree-dimensional image as a coherent combination of reflections fromthe point contributing to each of the plurality of reflection beams; andidentifying the object based on the three-dimensional image.
 14. Themethod according to claim 13, wherein the transmitting the plurality oftransmission beams includes transmitting the plurality of transmissionbeams at the respective plurality of angles at each position of theplurality of positions of the platform to be perpendicular to adirection of travel of the platform.
 15. The method according to claim13, further comprising moving, using a plurality of mirrors of the LDV,the plurality of transmission beams to a respective plurality of beampositions for each position of the plurality of positions of theplatform, wherein the processing includes obtaining the coherentcombination of reflections based additionally on reflections from theplurality of beam positions.
 16. The method according to claim 15,wherein the moving the plurality of transmission beams to the respectiveplurality of beam positions includes moving each of the plurality oftransmission beams in a direction parallel to a direction of travel ofthe platform.
 17. The method according to claim 15, wherein thetransmitting the plurality of transmission beams and moving theplurality of transmission beams to the respective plurality of beampositions defines, for the LDV, a coverage area within the areaassociated with the low frequency signal at a given position of theplurality of positions of the platform.
 18. The method according toclaim 17, further comprising moving the platform to define anothercoverage area that has an overlap with the coverage area and determininga relative position of each point of the three-dimensional image basedon the overlap.
 19. The method according to claim 13, further comprisingcontrolling a speed and direction of the platform.
 20. The methodaccording to claim 13, wherein the arranging the system includescoupling another LDV to the platform.